CUED

UIC Arts Center Focus Groups Report

Three focus groups were held in May 1995 to provide input into a proposed University of Illinois at Chicago arts center. The focus groups were held under the auspices of the UIC Arts Center Committee, composed of University faculty and staff, which wished to obtain community input into the development of the arts center concept. The nearly 30 participants represented city-wide and local arts organizations, public entities such as local government, schools, and public housing, and community-based organizations. (See Appendix A for a listing of participants.)

Focus group participants were presented with the broad outlines of a multi-disciplinary UIC arts center, consisting of four primary activities:

• Programming of arts and cultural events emphasizing contemporary creative expression.
• Developing educational components for all performances, exhibitions, and events.
• Encouraging the creation of new works (including experimental art forms) in all arts media and encouraging new artists and new audiences.
• Establishing a center for visiting scholars and artists.

There were several common themes that emerged from the three focus groups:

1. The main thing that the community wants -- stressed by all three groups -- is a real partnership with the University. They would like to see the University-community partnership concept incorporated in the vision statement for the arts center. They also want the partnership or collaboration to be institutionalized, for instance, in community representation on an advisory council or board.

2. The community wants the concept of partnership to include the development and implementation of programming. The University should not attempt to become the custodian of ethnic cultures. Creative, multi-cultural programming partnerships will increase the audience for arts in the city and will increase the funding sources that can be tapped. Each partner in the envisioned collaboration has real strengths to bring to the table, and these strengths should be properly evaluated and valued as the partnership is developed. If this is approach is taken, the University, the city, and its citizens will benefit greatly from an arts center.

3. Education should be a central focus of the arts center. The University has a primarily educational mission, and this should include the involvement of all possible UIC departments, not just those that are arts-related. The arts center should become an integral part of the Great Cities Initiative. Long-term artists-in-residence and community arts experts can contribute to the educational role played by the center.

4. The vision should drive the design of a facility, rather than the other way around. What takes place in the facility is more important than the actual facility itself. However, since the University has the opportunity to develop the facility from the ground up, it should be a state-of-the- art facility that fills empty niches that exist in the arts in Chicago and includes such things as multi-media capacity and computer accessibility to the Internet.

5. The discussion process begun by the University is a good one. However, participants want to learn more about the University's concept of the arts center. Therefore, they would like the University to develop a proposal incorporating relevant suggestions from the focus groups, which would then be discussed by an expanded group of community and arts organizations and representatives from various constituencies within the University community, such as arts educators, administrators, students, and academics from departments outside the arts. This discussion should take place before and inform the planned architectural competition.

The focus groups exemplified Chicago's cultural and artistic richness and ethnic diversity. Participants brought many creative ideas with them, while other ideas evolved in the course of the discussion itself. As one participant said, "This is great that you are bringing us together...We are so very diverse, it's not often that this happens, that we can come together and talk about these things and learn from one another."

Another participant summed up: "There is a huge task to be done and it's exciting, challenging work, and really thoughtful practitioners should absolutely be at the table in that discussion."

This website is maintained by Cedric Williams, Manager System Services,
UIC-Center for Urban Economic Development